


Ramifications

by Mjazilem



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bruce as doctor, Frost Giant, Hurt/Comfort, Mind Control, PTSD, Past Torture, Physical Hurt Comfort, Revenge, Torture, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-22 11:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14307795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mjazilem/pseuds/Mjazilem
Summary: What happens in between the time the Hulk Smashes Loki and when Thor takes Loki back home. Someone has to keep Loki prisoner. Fury has a plan. Lots of Loki Whump,  some brotherly feels, and avengers to the rescue.also on Fanfiction.net same name





	1. Chapter 1

Loki dragged himself across the broken floor of Tony Stark's once lavish living room. He growled low in his throat as he struggled, desperately trying to reach the roof and stop the female assassin from disturbing the Tesseract and the portal.

He had determined while working to disengaging himself from his personal crater in the floor that his body was grievously broken. It was a set back but he scoffed at the pain, it did not concern him, it was a distant thought that he readily ignored.

He tried to stand, he pushed himself up off the ground and attempted to get his legs under him. He did not get far. The demigod's right leg gave out as soon as he put weight on it. The two halves of his broken shine bone shifted and he crashed back to the hard floor.

His teeth clenched tightly as he bit back the urge to cry out; he cursed his betraying body for refusing to comply with his wishes just like everything else in this god forsaken realm.

Determined to keep moving, he was forced to crawl like a wretched wounded animal. He was a god, he thought fuming with indignation. No mere midgardian roof should be this far out of his reach.

The battles he'd fought this day culminating in his encounter with the beast had left him with broken bones, torn muscles, lacerated flesh, and a headache that threaten to split his skull, if he acknowledged it.

He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts and regain his focus... his conviction.

If he was going to regain any lost ground Loki knew he needed to move. He cursed that he had not been able to for some time after the beast had assaulted him. He did not know how long it had taken for him to pull his senses together but he was sure he'd spent far too long in the throws of his pathetic weakness.

Once again.

He huffed vexed and bared his teeth as he continued to pull himself onward with wounded hands.

His progress was agonizingly slow and he wanted to cry out in frustration and ire at his crippled and offending body but he bit his tongue and pushed on.

Anger boiled his blood and Loki cursed Thor and the Avengers for getting in his way. They had no idea the consequences that would come from their actions against him.

He would not be bullied anymore.

Loki had no idea of what was going on outside the walls of Stark tower. The knowledge that something had indeed happened exploded suddenly in his head. He gasped as the Other's connection with his mind was violently severed. His head was jerked to one side as if he'd been psychically struck. The unanticipated shock caused him to loose the tentative control he had of his limbs.

His hands slipped out from under him and the side of his face smacked the marble floor. He was glad for a fleeting second that he had not been able to stand before, he would have had further to fall.

There was a moment of shocked stillness where Loki in a daze thought that perhaps he'd imagined the Chitauri were gone. Then he blinked. In that moment the connection was truly dissolved and the veil he'd been under lifted.

Pain both recent and older came crashing to the forefront of his consciousness.

He coughed and sputtered as he lay on the cold floor, droplets of his red blood standing out against the pale stone and his paler cheek. He choked and gasped and coughed some more. His broken ribs grated against one another as his chest heaved against the marble floor.

His mind whirled with questions. What had happened? Were the Chitauri destroyed? Where did that leave him?

He groaned, his forehead pressed against the cold floor his one comfort in all this disastrous mess.

A snide voice in the back of his mind told him that this was fitting. What was his life if not a constant struggle to free himself of an unwelcome situation only to have to then deal with the ramifications of the price he'd paid for that freedom.

He started to question the voice; what had he done in his life to deserve this? The answer came almost before he finished the thought. He rolled his eyes, 'been born of course'.

He pushed up off the floor again. He was stubborn. Perhaps there was still a way out.

This time every inch of him cried out in protest. Loki tried to swallow back a sobbing cry but he couldn't stop it escaping his lips as he forced his damaged body to move. It was now a hundred times more difficult then before. Nothing could ever just be easy could it? He sighed and pushed on.

His tolerance for the pain he was in was not the only thing to change with the Chitauri's veil gone: the great loathing that he'd felt only moments ago melted into strong dislike. The space that loathing had taken up in his soul was quickly filling with fear.

It was clear to him that he'd failed. Now he had a sinking suspicion that what was left of the Chitauris and the other enemies that filled his nightmares would come looking for him to get what they believed he owed them.

These enemies were the kind to make you pay a pound of flesh and he knew their great joy was taking it slowly.

He wanted to run, if only he could get his legs to work. He wished desperately the he had the magic to transport himself away. But his reservoir of magical energy had been so abused by the chitauri and exhausted by the Tesseract that he didn't have the strength, not without the aid of the scepter.

He needed to get somewhere far away, lick his wounds, and figure out how to slip the ramifications of this unplanned for predicament.

Perhaps if he could make it to the Tesseract he could muster the strength use it as a transport. He grimaced remembering the tole the cursed thing had taken on him when had traveled to midgard through the Tesseract at the start of all this.

He started slowly pulling himself up the couple of steps to the next level of the large room. Groaning with effort. He had been crawling over broken glass and marble shards, they had pierced his palms and fingers. His hands were sticky now with his blood. Exhaustion was taking over and he felt every burdensome pound of the heavy armor he wore.

He didn't hear their approach possibly because of the ringing that resounded in his ears but the feeling of their eyes on him made him pause. He knew before he turned that he was caught.

Loki's mind worked fast even through the fog of pain and he knew that his only option now was to try and control the amount of backlash he incurred.

He turned back to them slowly breathing heavy with exertion. His eyes scan those that surrounded him flitting to each foe and then down to the floor. He tried hard to keep his anxiety from showing; it was very difficult with his body disobeying and all his angry adversaries glaring in his direction.

He fought hard to keep the chills that wanted to run up and down his spine at bay but the presence of the Beast and Thor and Barton threatening to put an arrow in his eye sent an involuntary tremor through his thin frame that rattled what was left of his nerves.

Loki's propensity for self preservation kicked in as he tries to sit up a bit straighter. Shifting his features into an abashed expression. In a light tone with no hint of malice that projected his desire for a truce he asks about the drink that Stark had offered him earlier.

His query elicits little reaction from the wary and weary Avengers. Clint continues holding his bow aimed at Loki at pointblank range. Tony alone jeers at the request "No drink for you. I reserve my liquor for my friends." Natasha scoffs in a low angry voice that Loki strains at first to hear, but the god of mischief knows the message all too well.

He can guess what will come next, he's been captured before, unprepared and at a disadvantage.

Loki never makes it to a more dignified seated position, he is propped up on the steps. He lowers his head, hoping to look sympathetic. he'll try anything to minimize the pain that he knows will come next.

He braces his dispirited and wrung out self the best he can.

Perhaps Barton will loose his arrow or they will simply give him back to the Hulk. He knows however it happens they will make him pay for his actions.

If he's luck they will be quicker about it than the Other.

A small sad knowing smile moves across his tired features as he looks first into Stark's eyes and then finds the hard gaze of Thor. The blond glowers down at Loki in what Loki would describe as disgust. Loki imagines Thor, his golden brother, must be rather pleased with himself.

He would have liked to have been able to put on a defiant front but he just can't seem to manage it with throbbing pain that's hammer at his temples.

Thor glares at his brother still trying to comprehend the destruction Loki has brought to Midgard. He stands with the other Avengers tired and angry but the god of thunder starts to feel his anger falter. The expression on Loki's face is so free from hatred and disgust that he looks to Thor as he did when they were young and not at odds. From when they were brothers before Loki... fell.

Thor's brotherly instinct threatens to over take his stoic facade as Loki turns his face away from all of them and sucks in a ragged breath. The breath catches in his throat and he tries to hide as he winces in pain. Thor sees the grimace that the others miss and can't help but wince with his brother.

Then Loki makes a noise that none of them expects. Suddenly he is laughing, at what Thor knows not. It is not boisterous or even maniacal sounding, rather he is giggling. The sound is foreign to Thor's ears; never could he recall his brother laughing in such a fashion.

Loki can't help himself he feels so completely without options or hope in this moment that the absurdity of it all over takes him, he is soon in a fit of giggling.

He can hear them standing over him making assumptions about his mental state "crazy" "insane" "bag of cats" "lost his mind." but he can't seem to stop himself.

his eyes start to water. Maybe he has finally completely lost his mind, maybe this was the last straw for his long abused psyche. He rolls onto his side with one arm holding his ribs as his giggling degrades into grasps and hiccups.

The Avengers aren't sure what to make of Loki's fit and are cautious about getting too close to him because him gasping on the floor might somehow be a trap.

Thor is tempted to remain standing with his new allies but when Loki's eyes start to loose focus Thor comes to the decision that he cannot stand aside and watch his brother struggling to breathe.

He strides passed Barton and moves to Loki's side.

"Thor...?" With just his name Tony Stark is able to both question Thor's actions and caution against them.

"He is in distress. I will help my brother." Thor replies seriously, he would not be dissuaded, no matter what had taken place here, Loki is his brother. Thor was not going to fail to save his brother, again.

He moves swiftly and Loki narrows his green eyes with jealousy at his brother's ease of mobility. Loki's body shakes as he gasps and coughs on the cold hard floor. His inability to catch his breath is starting to make his head swim.

Thor comes to his aid. Loki is in no shape to refuse his help. He has to except it as the larger man moves to his side and pulls him up into a sitting position.

Loki wills his body to stop betraying his weakness to his enemies but he continues to tremble and cough his chest ached and his throat burned. Leaning back into Thor the pressure is slightly relieved from his lungs and finally for all his gasping his able to take a deep breath. He takes another deep breath, it causes different muscles and bruises to ache, he doesn't care as he breathes greedily. His trembling body calms and his eyelids become suddenly heavy.

He relaxes ever so slightly back into Thor and lets himself for the faintest glimmer of a second be comforted by the fact that he is in his brother's care.

Thor sits on the floor holding his brother up. He feels Loki grow still and sag in his arms, his head falling back to rest on his shoulder. Loki starts to slide back to the floor growing boneless as he edges towards unconsciousness. Thor without thinking tightens his grip around his younger brother's middle eliciting a pained groan from Loki's spilt lips.

It is a surreal moment for Thor. Sitting with his brother in his arms, the brother who he'd mourned, who he thought was lost to the spaces in between yggdrasil's branches. In the past few days he'd spoken with him and fought with him, been dropped from the helicarrier by him but he hadn't been so close and so still.

His brother was alive.

Tony started to feel awkward standing over Thor, watching as the large Asgardian held his brother. He didn't get a chance to do anything about it.

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

S.H.I.E.L.D stormed into the room, weapons drawn. The agents moved passed the Avengers and set their sites on Loki still laying prone semi conscious in Thor's arms on the floor.

Nick Fury walked through the wreckage of the room, broken glass crunching under each boot step. The Avengers turned to look at him but he didn't looking at them, his one dark eye was focused on Loki.

"Good work team. You've truly saved the day." His words didn't match his dark tone. He was angry and exhausted like they all were. But there was a sense that Fury was angrier and more tired then the rest of them. "We'll take it from here." He waved for a group of men in lab coats to move forward.

They wheeled with them a contraption that might have been a medical gurney but to Tony's eyes it looked more like a medieval torture devise, something like a rack; a slab with straps, belts, and metal clamps.

The men rolled the the rack right up to Thor and Loki. Remarkably, uncharacteristically and perhaps speaking to the extent that he was injured Loki seemed to have quietly slipped into unconsciousness his black hair draped across his pale face, his head resting in the crook of Thor's neck and shoulder.

"What do you mean to do with my brother?" Thor asked in a watery voice that didn't fit the god. The men in lab coats moved to take advantage of Loki's inertness but Thor held fast to his brother and would not relinquish him to the men. "He is in need of a healer, you must let me take him back to Asgard so he may receive the care he needs." Thor spoke in a low tone that would have intimidated most people, but not Nick Fury.

"No," Fury said through clenched teeth. "Give Loki to us Thor, he's committed atrocities against the people of Earth and he should answer for them."

"He has done much wrong on our home world as well, we can give him a trail and punishment that will fit his crimes, Odin will provide justice for both our people." Thor leveled a stony glare at the SHIELD agents with guns pointed at his brother.

"How do you plan on transporting yourself and Loki back to Asgard?" Fury knew that the bridge between Earth and Asgard had been destroyed and that it hadn't been easy for Thor to get back to Earth.

"Once the Allfather has the power he will arrange our return." Thor did not like how this conversation was progressing. He had a plan it might just take some time, Fury was making it sound like he was an unprepared fool.

"Look, you don't know when you're getting a ticket home. How are you going to deal with him until that time Thor? We have the facilities." Fury was trying to reason with the god. Thor did not care for the patronizing tone Fury used.

"That didn't work out so well last time..." Tony made sure to remind everyone that the cage on the helicarrier hadn't held Loki.

Fury narrowed his eye at the smug billionaire "Things have changed. Loki was right before, the other cage wasn't built for him, but I've had a team working on it and they have rectified the situation." There was a glint in Fury's eye that made Tony wonder what exactly this team had come up with, flashes of medieval torture chambers came to mind for the second time since SHEILD had arrived and it gave Tony an uneasy feeling. He shook it off, they were on his team, right; they were the good guys.

Steve stepped up. "Thor, I think you're going to have to let them take him." Steve fell into his old black and white ways, Loki was the bad guy after all and the authorities should handle him. "Let them hold him for now, just until decisions and arrangements can be made." Loki was like a live wire after all, he might be docile and dormant now but that didn't mean he couldn't go on another rampage in a couple hours.

Thor made a strangled kind of sound, he seemed unsure of what to do. The god looked oddly small holding his brother, Loki's cloak and armor seemed to enveloped Thor as the younger lay across the elder. At some point after Loki had lost consciousness Thor had taken hold of his hand and was now worrying his thumb along the back of other's pale appendage.

Banner who had returned to his average self seemed very uncomfortable with the whole business. He was surprised at the conclusion he came to but it seemed to make the most sense. "I'm sure it'll be alright Thor, I'm sure Director Fury will take care of any prisoner left in his charge."

"You will see that he is seen by a healer?" Thor questioned Fury. He wasn't sure the injuries that Loki had suffered, he knew if they hadn't killed him by now they most likely would not but Thor was no healer and mightn't there be unforeseen complications.

"He'll be seen." Fury answered curtly.

Steve and Natasha move to Thor's side as three of the men in white coats move forward once again. This time Thor allowed them to lift Loki up off the floor and move him onto the gurney. The SHEILD agents' guns following the defeated god.

He is unceremoniously laid down and quickly strapped, belted, tied, and bound to the contraption by the silent agents. They swiftly place multiple locks and straps tightly on his legs, hands, arms, chest, throat, mouth, and even across his eyes.

Natasha placed a hand on Thor's arm, his expression is grim and he looks like he might be ill. He moves to follow as they start to wheel the oblivious god of mischief away.

"There's still a lot we could use your help with here Thor." Steve speaks softly as Fury and the other SHEILD agents follow after their prisoner.

"We'll be in touch soon." Fury says over his shoulder and then in a whirl of helicopter blades and black metal they were gone.

"I should not have let them have him." Thor bites back the urge to curse. The way they took him away was not how one treats an opponent met in battle. They meant to strip his dignity from him and that did not sit well with Thor.

"They'll just throw him in a cell Big Red, like checking a coat he'll be there when you're ready to collect." Tony looked around surveying the damage to his penthouse. "Why is there a demigod shaped hole in my floor?"

Bruce was still looking uncomfortable with arms crossed over his bare chest. "Sorry I think that was me."

Clint snickered and Natasha gave him a pointed look. "What? The bastard got what he deserved."

"You know what." Natasha scolded and everyone looked over at Thor trying to gage his reaction.

He had collected his hammer and was looking rather stormily out over the city. "I do not know what exactly my brother deserves, that is not my place nor is it yours, it is for the Allfather to decided."

Thor turned back to his new friends, his brother's at arms and made a difficult confession. "My job was to look after my younger brother, I'm afraid I have preform this task poorly." Thor had begun to suspect that it was his loosing sight of his brother that had started him on this path so long ago.

Nick Fury stood over his prisoner and seethed as they flew through the smoke that was billowing over Manhattan. Nick shut his eye and pressed a hand against his forehead where a throbbing headache had decided to blossom.

At least Manhattan was still here. There had been a few minutes when he thought that the island was going to end up a nuclear blast crater. He fought back the bile that jumped up in his throat and spit on the floor of the helicopter. His fists clenched and he fought the urge to lose all composure and pummel the unconscious demigod. Instead he let himself take a moment's pleasure in what they had in store for their newly recaptured guest.

The Avengers moved into the aftermath of the battle. They could hear sirens and whistles in the distance; emergency personnel and rescue workers were on their way. Thor and Iron Man helped clear the roads as best as they could so that any rescue vehicles could work their way into the battle zone. Cap and Clint started to search the wrecks and rubble for survivors and Bruce and Natasha tried to aide the unlucky injured who hadn't been able to escape or get to shelter.

There was so much damage. But the professionals moved in quick including SHEILD who worked to sweep away as much alien tech as they could as fast as they could.

Thor had been in many battles before, and had even seen destruction on a greater scale than this in his close to a thousand some odd years, but this time it ate away at him. He couldn't help but be crushed by the fact that this time was different, as he helped shift another destroyed car he was crushed by the knowledge that his brother had been the master of this terror.

He was quiet during their ministrations, they were all fairly quiet, even Tony Stark was not his boisterous self. Thor kept drifting into distant memories of his brother and himself from a millennia ago. He was becoming more melancholy with each remembrance that floated in front of his eyes.

He remembered when his younger brother use to follow him around, and when they would listen to Odin tell them stories. Loki never liked scary stories when they were little he would often hide behind Thor during especially scary parts. He remembered when they'd played games with their mother and the time they had disobeyed their parents and snuck into the forest to climb the tallest tree they could find. Loki had fallen and broken his ankle, Thor had carried him home.

"Hey, Thor you alright Buddy?" Tony asked as his armor mask retracted.

Thor didn't know what to answer so he said nothing.

"I think we've done what we can tonight." Tony clapped him on the shoulder and called over his com to see where the rest of the team were. "I think it's time we get something to eat."

Nick Fury had stood watch from the control room as his agents wheeled the bound and unconscious God of Mischief into the cell they had arranged for him. The agents quickly went to work attaching long thick cables from the ceiling of the large round vertical room they were in to the corners of the backboard that Loki was strapped to. Once they were hooked the agents detached the legs of the gurney they gave the all clear sign to Fury who pushed a button in the control that made the cables retract. Loki was lifted high up in the circular concrete room which had been used until recently as a testing facility.

The cables raised him to the center of the room where he was level with the control room window thirty feet in the air. He was suspend nearly twenty feet from any wall and at least twenty feet from the ceiling.

Fury took his eye off the demigod to study the computer screens in front of him. They were scanning Loki and monitoring his vitals. He could clearly see the god was still unconscious. Fury called up a full body scan that gave him an xray image of the god. It appears life size on the large seven foot control room screen that took up a good length of the wall to Fury's right. The SHIELD director smirked as he reviewed the damage. The Hulk had certainly done a number on the immortal.

With the new research his team had done Fury was also able to pull up a full body scan that showed in glowing green the magic energy coming from the demigod. Compared to pervious scans the team had taken on the helicarrier and during the battle the green glow was dramatically diminished. 'out of juice then' Fury thought as he looked from the monitor to the prisoner hanging out in front of him. It was going to be easier then Fury thought to collect his 'pound of flesh' from this bastard. Now he just had to wait until his prisoner woke up.

Loki regained consciousness slowly. He laid for a time feeling disconnected, he couldn't think at first, thoughts entered his head but he couldn't hold onto them. The first thought that stuck was 'pain'. He groaned softly, everything ached.

His second thought was 'where'.

He came to the decision that he needed to open his eyes. Where ever he was seemed dark and he couldn't hear anything. He tried sluggishly to get his heavy eyelids to open, they felt like they were stuck together, or crusted over, had he been crying? Perhaps it was blood. He couldn't decide which was more unsettling.

He wanted to rub his eyes so he could see, he expected that moving would be uncomfortable maybe even painful. He did not expect when he attempted to raise his hand that he would be unable to move it.

His brain had sent the signal for his right arm to move but when he tried he couldn't budge. He was confused for a moment and tried to move his left. It was held fast, it was then that his brain registered the bonds holding him tight over his thick leather and armor.

He tried to move his legs and hot pain shot threw his body, he gasped reflexively, but his mouth was covered tightly and no air gets through. His throat tightens and he chokes, his body racked as he coughs. The multitude of straps pressing, pinching, and cutting into him as he convulses.

He breathes through his nose and his heart starts to race. He tries harder this time to open his eyes, he is desperate for any information about his predicament. He forces his right eye open and is rewarded for his effort with nothing but blackness. Fear grips him.

He is captured, trapped, and without any knowledge of who his captor is. 'Curse Odin's eye' Loki thought 'this might be the end.'

TBC...


	3. Chapter 3

Nick Fury waited in the control room, standing and watching, sometimes pacing. Some of the higher ranking agents on the premisses had tried to persuade him that he should go and sleep, or at least sit and maybe eat something now that the battle was over and the threat contained. There was no guarantee that the prisoner Fury was so intently waiting for was even going to wake up today.

Fury had refused their suggestions, he would be here when Loki regain consciousness, he would know the second the monster was awake and he would make it known who was the 'boot' and who was the powerless insect.

He waited three hours until finally the monitors showed signs that Loki was awake. Fury almost felt bad for what he was about to do... almost.

"So glad you could join us." the voice came booming out of nowhere, making Loki's whole body flinch. The involuntary movement made him cry out against his gag and then two thoughts hit him simultaneously. The man speaking was Nick Fury and whatever Loki was strapped to was now swaying in a not very pleasant way. His teeth clenched down on his bottom lip in fear of what the motion might mean. He pushed that fear to the back of him mind, he needed more information before he would let this scare him.

He tried to keep positive 'So not "the end" just Fury.' He thought. He was still on Midgard and that was something, it was still just the stupid mortals that had him.

We worried at his lip. 'Well, maybe not as stupid this time around they'd certainly got the upper hand on him right now.

Fury noticed on the monitors that his prisoner's heart rate had gone up. Loki was afraid. He wished that he could see the look in the demigod's eyes. He'd just have to settle for knowing that if he was scared now he'd be terrified before Fury was done.

"I know you felt slighted last time you were in our custody, what with being in someone else's cage. So I've taken the liberty of having this one made especially for you, and I do hope you will enjoy your stay with us." Loki could hear the disgust in the other man's clipped words. It was a hatred that he was familiar with. He sucked air through his nose and tried to steel himself against the torture that he was sure was coming next.

"We've been doing our research and well your brother he had lots to tell us about you." Fury hit a button and the cables holding Loki started to move.

The thin god tensed every muscle in his aching body as if his life depended on it as whatever he was strapped too started lifting up and flipping him over. He wondered what 'in all the realms' had Thor told these mortals.

Loki's breath caught in his throat as the board went from horizontal to vertical to falling over and dropping.

Being blind with no clues as to his surroundings except Fury's disembodied voice his stomach jumped to his throat as he fell forward. For all he knew in the moment Fury had just pushed him over a ledge and he was going to hit solid ground with nothing to break his fall but his already injured body.

The breath he'd held as he started to fall was suddenly forced out of his lungs when the cables were jerked taunt and his fall was abruptly and painfully stopped. His body spasmed because of this new abuse and Loki felt a moan come from deep in his throat. He hurt all over. Flashes of how he might hurt Nick Fury flashed through his mind.

Loki was now hanging. The straps and belts and cuffs that held him down and were now keeping him from plummeting to 'Odin knew what' felt like they were cutting through him as they took all his weight.

Fury pulled a lever in the control room and the floor thirty feet below Loki opened and retracted and revealed three large industrial fans. They weren't quite wind tunnel big but they would do the job that Fury wanted them to do. They switched on and started blowing air up at Loki. They created lots of noise, wind and made the cables and prisoner sway in a way that Fury was hoping made the god feel unsettled.

The name of the game was containment through disorientation and distraction. This time they were going to make sure that Loki's time was so filled with uncertainty and discomfort that he couldn't think of anything else.

"Welcome to the cage we built just for you." Fury glared out the window, this was just the beginning of what he had planned.

The leather straps pressing against his mouth and eyes were the ones that after a time were probably bothering him the most. They were the straps that were directly on him and not laid over top of his clothing or armor. Their pressure on his bare skin was pervasive. It didn't take long before the swaying motion the gritty wind was creating caused the straps to bite into his checks and rub till his mouth and chin felt raw.

Of course laying face down like he was he could feel each of the straps the midgardians had bound him with. Not one of them was painless. His ribs had settled against the strap across his chest and were pressing against his lungs making it hard to breath and grating with each motion.

The one strap he could feel acutely now was the one around his right ankle. He was fairly certain this was because his broken leg had gone numb.

He couldn't breath well not only because of the pressure on his chest but also because it was unpleasant breathing into the wind that was blowing on him. It's warm, smells musty, and was blowing dirt and debris at him.

It was also causing the swaying feeling that was making him ill. He knows from his weigh pulling him which direction is down. But in the unpredictable motion that this strange Midgardian wind is causing and the odd pulsating noise that seems to accompany his brain is starting to play tricks on him.

The trickster is starting to lose track of up and down, left and right in the dark. He isn't sure how much time has passed but he knows it is a bad sign when he starts to feel like he is falling through space. The seemingly endless space between yggdrasil's branches.

Loki bites down hard on his tongue to bring his mind back to the present. He hates that it has come to self inflicted pain but it would do him no good to go back to that time and relive his fall and what came with it.

He needs to keep his focus. He knows well that his life and sanity depend on him keeping some sliver of himself intact, just like before, the goal is survival.

Loki wishes to curse and spit and throw fire and tear this place, this 'cage' and all his captors apart. But hanging face down in the air without the strength to move against his bonds or the sight to see his surroundings he can only hope that he can bide his time and let his magic build back up so he can heal and escape.

"Director Fury we have the the signal jammer ready." The lead engineer on this project spoke from a computer station behind the intense spy.

"well it's about damn time." Fury didn't turn from the viewing window to face her. Instead he kept watched as the cables retracted and Loki was twisted up from his horizontal position and made to hang at an angle, with his weigh still on his front but now shifted to lay hard on his left side.

Fury ran his finger down the touch screen in front of him and the fans cut to a forth of their power. It was time to see how the frost giant dealt with a little heat. That done he did finally turn to the engineers. "What is the projected out come of this signal?"

Another of the scientists, Fury hadn't taken the time to learn their names yet, in front of Fury presented the director with a tablet that contained their formulas and other data they had collected on Loki's magic. Fury glanced at it but wasn't interested in studying it that's what he paid other's for.

"Loki's magic is like an energy current that runs through and around his body. After identifying its frequency and studying how the current reacts when he uses his magic we've had the computers running scenarios. We believe that we've found the counter frequency that will disrupt the flow of his. We theorize that any disruption to the flow of the current will make his magic unusable." The man explained their findings.

"Like a kink in a hose." Fury suggested.

"Perhaps or like those strands of christmas lights where one blub is burnt out so none of the other's work." The female engineer analogized. Fury narrowed his eye at the woman but said nothing.

"Time to put it to the real test." Fury's order was understood. The scientists moved to the main control room computers and worked swiftly taping key boards and swiping screens.

"Ready." The man turned to Fury to get the final go ahead.

"Do it." Fury nodded, the man tapped the screen and stood back.

"I don't hear anything." Fury wondered if anything had happened.

"It's not a frequency we can hear, we should be able to see its affect." The woman swiped again at the computer screen in front of her and the large screen on the wall lit up with scan that showed Loki's magic energy glowing in a yellow green.

For a moment Fury saw no discernible difference from the scan of the god's magic he'd looked at earlier. Fury started to think about what unpleasant department he could bury these engineers in when the scan suddenly and dramatically changed.

The green glow went from looking fluid and ethereal to looking like 'no signal' static.

"Goodness." The engineering man comment as the woman turned to the computer to look at the numbers.

"Does he feel this?" Fury enquirer and the man turned to another screen to look at Loki's vitals. "I would say he..." The man didn't need to finish as they could all hear Loki's muffled scream from the other room.

Fury watched the life size scan and could see his prisoner writhe and thought vindictively 'Christmas, more like mother fucking Forth of July.'

Loki screamed as his body vibrated and convulsed. It was like insects were crawling through his veins. His right eye opened wide in sudden terror his eye lid dragging across the rough back of the leather blindfolding him. His left eye would have openned but it was pressed to hard with his weight against the strap to opened at all.

If he could have moved his hands he would have torn at his own skin to try and stop the sensation and he would have slammed them tight on his ears to try and keep out the horrid high pitched buzzing noise that was assaulting him.

He whimpered as his finger curled and his nails dug into his damaged palms.

He wondered what sorcerer Fury could have possibly found on Migard to cast this curse. He bit his tongue again and fought to stay calm. He tried to breath deeply through his nose, hoping that his new position would allow him at least to breath and found that the air had become thick and painful to breath in the absence of the wind.

It was hot and quickly becoming too hot.

The buzzing it his head seemed to get louder and the wriggling under his skin stronger as he got hotter and hotter.

He could feel the weakness coming.

Loki started to panic. 'What had Thor told them?' 'Where was Thor?' 'Thor must truly hate him to allow this.' The last thought he had before exhaustion and exertion pulled him back into unconsciousness was 'Thor will pay for this.'

"I hope you didn't want to question the prisoner." The female engineer commented glibly. Fury cut his stern gaze at her and her expression fell in line. "I mean hum, the prisoner is now unconscious, Sir."

Fury stared out at Loki as he hung slack restraints like some creepy evil marionette. His dark hair which had been blown wild by the fans was now plastered to the god's thin face, he looked pale as death.

"Do we know what made him pass out? I thought Loki was suppose to be tough." At least he hadn't expected him to be out cold after only a few hours.

"It could be the heat, or the jammer. If we'd known you wanted to know precisely we could have been a little more deliberate with the timing of application." The man looked at the data on the screen.

The woman spoke up obviously nervous of Fury's wrath. "From what Thor told us we can theorize that Loki either because of his different physiology or just a weaker constitution was never as strong or healed as fast as Thor. That and his healing may be linked to his magic, blocking him from the little magic he had available to him may have caused greater weakness or the jamming signal itself maybe taking a physical tole on him."

"Are you guessing?" Fury asked seriously. He wanted, no, he needed to know what limits he could push this alien to. At some point he would most likely have to hand him back over to his brother and he didn't want to have to explain any irreversible damage.

Of course Fury was working on a plan so that he wouldn't have to give this murderer back. He felt that he should be the one who got to dole out punishment for Earth and Coulson. It seemed only fair.

The male engineer spoke after studying his computer for a time. "Sir, we have ascertained that the heat has had a great effect on the prisoner's vitals. His core body temperature has risen drastically and even in this short time the scans are showing increased and indisputable signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration."

Fury contemplated this news and relented. "Alright turn the fans back on."

He knew he could be patient, there was no need to cook the frost giant too fast. he had at least a little time in which to stretch his punishment out. Thor was leaving for New Mexico in the morning to wait there for word from Odin or Heimdall or someone in Asgard.

Fury wanted Loki to suffer to do that properly he would find a way to make sure the god stayed awake next time and without the sweet escape of oblivion.

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

It was the morning of the fourth day since what was being called 'the Battle of New York'. Tony sat at the kitchen table in one of the guest suite in Stark Tower. This particular floor hadn't been damaged during the attack and the structural integrity of the building was still intact so Tony and Pepper and some Avenger's stayed.

They could stay at another of Tony's properties while clean up was on going in the tower and the city but it didn't feel right to leave the city now.

He had tried to suggest that Pepper stay elsewhere but she'd refused to leave him, in fact she'd been like his shadow since she'd gotten in. She was still in shock and he couldn't blame her, lots of people were still reeling.

Tony was sober, very sober. Something about flying a nuke through a portal into another part of space did that to a man.

Pepper brought him a cup of coffee and took a seat by his side. She was quiet for a time staring down into her own cup. When she spoke it was a soft serious question. "Have you heard yet if there will be a funeral service for Phil?"

Tony held his lifted coffee mug at his lips and then put it down without drinking it. The realization struck him that in all the confusion, tears, and anger in the aftermath of the battle he hadn't thought about there being a funeral.

Now he was mad at his self for now thinking of it, of course there should be a funeral for Phil, a service, a wake, and a monument erected 'in memory of Agent Phil Coulson defender of Earth'. But Tony hadn't heard a thing.

"I'll find out." Tony pulled out his phone and figured 'why not start at the top' "Call Fury" he spoke and the phone dialed. Tony waited and Pepper picked at some dry Cheerios that she just didn't feel like putting milk on.

The phone rang and rang and was not answered. "I guess he's busy."

"Or he doesn't want to talk to you."

"Hey I just saved New York he should take my calls. I'll try Natasha." Tony hung up and dialed the female Avenger.

"What's up Tony?" Natasha picked up on only the second ring.

"Hey, I've got a serious question." Tony stood up from the table and walked to the large window and looked out over the city it was odd to see no traffic around the Tower, the area was still blocked off to the public while clean up crews still worked to clean up the wreckage. "Is there going to be, ya know, a funeral for Agent Coulson?"

Natasha didn't answer right away. "Gosh, we've been so busy, I hadn't thought about it. No one's said anything."

"I tried calling Fury about it but he didn't pick up."

"I haven't seen Fury in days, not since he took Loki."

"Did they get Crazy Pants lock up nice and tight, with a straight jacket and ball and chain or oh, one of those pink uniforms like they wear in that prison in Arizona?" Tony couldn't help but be curious.

"I don't know, they've not made Loki's whereabouts or details of his captivity known even internally. I assume Fury is on it. I'm sure we'd know if there were any problems. Have you heard from Thor?"

"The big guy is hold up in New Mexico, he says the wall between our worlds is thin there so it's the best place for Asgard contact him. He says he should hear something any day now."

"Do they even know what's happened?"

"Thor says that Heimdall character can see everything so he must know whats happening. But apparently time is different there, it's slower or something. So what seems like a long delay to us might only be a day to them."

"Trippy."

"Yeah, so do you know who else I could call, I mean about the arrangements?"

There was another pause on the line while she thought. "You could try and get a hold of Agent Hill she might know."

"Ok thanks." Tony ended the call and turned back to Pepper.

She looked up at him expectantly. "I'm sorry there's no news." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll keep trying." He picked up his now cold coffee and downed it in one gulp and then kissed Pepper on the top of the head. "I'm gonna go and see if I can find someone else to call. What are you going to do?"

"Look over contractor bids." She gave Tony the look. The one that said 'you should be doing this but I'm going to because you're a big baby.'

"Ok well don't have too much fun." he said while making a face that was a cross between an apologetic smile and a grimace before he made a hasty getaway.

Fury had tried to keep things interesting for himself and for his prisoner. He was rarely away from the control room and had for the past four days almost exclusively been running the controls to Loki's cage. He liked to change things up.

He rotated Loki back and forth while the god hung bound to little more than a backboard. Let him hang upside down for a time and then right side up. He had the fans blow and then cut them letting the heat build in the room. Even though it was a large room Fury had discovered quickly through their careful monitoring of the god's vitals that it didn't take long for it to get too hot for the prisoner.

By chance he had found that he could increase and decrease the intensity of the jamming frequency they were using on Loki's magic. It seemed to disrupt the frequency at any level, any interruption in the current seemed to render it useless. The increased frequency just seemed to cause the prisoner greater discomfort. Fury made sure to use all these things to keep the god guessing.

He knew he was no scientist but he kept telling himself, he was preforming an import experiment that would help keep the people of Earth safe. After four days of 'experimenting' on this alien invader Fury had found that after not being allowed to heal or eat and drink or sleep for long that Loki even without the use of his magic was still alive and in better shape than any human would have been. This of course was nothing that they didn't already suspect.

The fact that they hadn't discovered anything new or particularly useful just meant Fury would have to take his 'experiments' to the next level. He was determined to continue, to get something from this. He told himself 'the world needed to know what they were dealing with and this was how they would to do that.'

It had been a long time since Loki had heard anything other than the blasted buzzing in his ears. Fury hadn't said another word since his 'welcome.' Loki might have thought they'd forgotten about him had his position in space not continued to shift at seemingly random intervals.

At least he thought it had been a long time, it certainly seemed like a long time. He had no way to determine how much time had actually passed. He only knew what he felt and he felt awful.

He was too hot. So much heat made him feel ill. At first he had become drenched with sweat, which had made the chaffing of the straps exponential worse. Now he was Dried out and wilted. Raw and bloody. Stretched and exhausted.

It was like his imprisonment by the Chitauri all over again, he had no hope of escape, no hope of anyone coming for him. It seemed to him he must be 'right were the universe wanted him.'

Why the universe felt the need to be so cruel to him he didn't know. Maybe the universe thought it was being kind leaving him in the comparatively soft hands of SHIELD instead of the Other. Of course, Loki was well aware, there was the possibility that they could find him. He shuttered to think what would happen if the Chitauri found him like this.

He wondered what SHIELD's goal was. Perhaps this torture was the mortal's revenge. Did they plan to kill him soon or was Fury going to keep him here like this for years? They could always hold on to him and use him as a bargaining chip should the Chitauri return to Earth.

Loki's mind wondered. With no outside input he couldn't properly assess his situation save to say, from what he did know. that it was currently grim. He was left shifting through all the possible outcomes of his fate.

He would not last indefinitely, especially if they gave him no food or water. He would eventually waste away. Still he imagined, even if he never healed properly he would hang on to life even if it was a withered half-life for a very long time in mortal terms.

He considered for a moment if this bizarre hanging treatment he was being put through was some how orchestrated by Odin. 'Poetic' Loki thought indignantly. 'but what knowledge do you wish me to learn Old Man? This is not Yggdrasil I hang from, the only thing I have learned is more hate.' Hate for the mortals, for Thor, and hate for his own weakness.

'If I had my magic there would be no...' Loki didn't get to finish his musing as he was jerked up vertical and his feet were dropped. His weigh was caught by the strap that was fastened tight across his chest. He coughed unpleasantly his cracked dry lips rubbing at the strap that bound his mouth as the pressure forced air out of his lungs.

He groaned, he had been in the one position for a long while and had started to go numb which was alright while he was hanging there because his pain was lessened. Now that he was moved his weight shifted the blood rushed back into his limbs this caused him a great deal of pain on top of his broken bones shifting and the maddening crawling sensation under his skin intensifying again.

Then without warning he felt himself falling. He dropped and hung vertically with his head down and his feet in the air and all of his weight being held by the strap around his ankles.

It was an excruciating feeling as his muscles were strand at pulled to their limit. Blood began rushing to his already pounding head.

He had enough fight in him to tug against the straps at his wrists but it was a futile gesture that did nothing but hurt him.

It was worrying to him that he wasn't getting better, his magic wasn't coming back to him.

A concern that perhaps the pain and torture the Chitauri put him through had had taxed him too greatly and his magic would need a great deal of time to return. Perhaps it wouldn't return to him. Maybe they had crippled him and he would always need the aid of the scepter. It was a scary and sad thought.

Fury watched as his prisoner swayed in the air for some reason it reminded the spy of a rabid wolf caught in a snare. He could imagine Loki like a crazed wolf trying to chew through his own foot off to get away. This particular crazed wolf would have no opportunity escape, not on Fury's watch.

"Jarvis, pull up the file we got off of SHIELD's servers with agent contact info." Tony sat in the lab, he had moved because he didn't want Pepper to be a part of his less than legal search. He was uncharacteristically patient and serious as he waited for the AI.

"It's up on the display now, Sir." Tony turned to the large clear screen and swipped through the information until he found what he was looking for, Maria Hill's SHIELD cell phone.

He dialed the number and readied himself for the question he knew was coming.

"How did you get this number Stark?" The woman on the other end did not sound happy.

"Off of your guy's computers, it wasn't that hard to find either. You guys didn't hid your numbers that well, it was almost like you wanted me to call." Tony thought it was funny that SHIELD had a file just for agent's phone numbers but he guessed every organization, even spy ones, need to keep track of these kind of things. For billing and what not. He rolled his eyes even though no one could see him.

"What do you want? I'm busy you know."

"Sure yeah aren't we all. I tried to contact Fury but he didn't pick up."

"Director Fury has taken the containment of the prisoner Loki very seriously, he is seeing to the details personally."

"Well that's great. I'm glad to know you guys are on top of it or rather him. If you need any of my tech for that let me know. The reason I'm calling is just I wanted... we wanted to know if there was going to be a funeral for Agent Coulson."

"Stark..." Maria started, the tone in her voice softened slightly. "Agent Coulson has already be laid to rest."

"What? Really?" Stark was shocked, under the circumstances with the battle and the clean up and caring for the wounded, that was very fast. Almost rushed. "The Avengers would have liked to have been in attendance to show our respect. Will there be a memorial service?"

"There was a small private service for Agent Coulson, the same that all SHEILD agents get when they are killed in the line of duty."

Tony thought about that 'how did you hold a funeral for a spy?' he knew that the CIA had a memorial wall with stars for fallen operatives and a book that listed the names of the people the stars represented but only if the operative's work was declassified. 'Did SHIELD have a memorial wall?'

"Is there someplace or someone we could send flowers to?" Tony was looking for anything that could help give them closure.

"There isn't a grave if that's what your asking and if Agent Coulson had any family that information is classified and can not be given out." The softness in her voice had melted away leaving her tone cold and professional.

It was apparent that he wasn't going to get anyone from her. "Alright, well I guess, I'll let you get back to work then." Tony said not knowing what else to say.

"Don't call this number again Stark." With that the line went dead.

Tony was left feeling unsatisfied and admittedly hurt, two feelings that he detested. He wondered what he was going to tell Pepper and the other Avengers.


	5. Chapter 5

Fury could hardly believe it had been seven days since they'd captured Loki after the battle. It felt like just yesterday that the helicarrier was falling from the sky and Loki was leading an alien army in attacking New York City.

'Had it really been a week?' Fury leaned over the the control room screens and glared at the reflection he saw.

Fury was running on fumes. He'd slept little and eaten less since appointing himself personal overseer of Loki's containment.

For all his hard work Fury was pleased with himself and his ministrations. He had been correct in his approval of the containment plan for the cage they had created especially for Loki. Fury was positive there was no way the god was going to escape from it and he was damn sure this was not where Loki wanted to be.

Fury would not be manipulated again. He was pulling the strings now. 'Rather Literally in fact' Fury thought smugly.

Still, after watching the scans and seeing Loki's fear spike on the monitors over and over again and hearing his pained muffled cries through the thick glass of the control room window Fury felt that he wasn't doing all he could.

He wasn't doing everything he could to protect his country.

He was never one to do things half assed. He realized they had only been studying from afar. Fury felt they had the prisoner under control and the time had come for him to get up close.

He was falling again. It was just like when he fell from the Bifrost. The blackness that was all that he could see was littered with stars he couldn't hope to reach. He wanted to try and reach them but he had no control as he fell through space, his arms and legs didn't answer his commands.

Some times he fell close to a star, so close that he could feel its heat. When this happened he aways seemed to get caught up in a vicious cycle. First he would feel a tiny glimmer of hope. if there was a star that meant there could also be a planet or moon he might crash into ending this incessant fall.

But soon after the hope the heat would quickly became uncomfortable and then unbearable. As the heat intensified so did his panic. Like the coward and weakling everyone knew he was he would wish for the openness of the void again.

He cursed his Juton self as if it were the reason he always drifted past the stars an never found a planet to break his fall.

Then as the air around him slowly cooled and he could breath he would be more exhausted than before, the heat having drained him of energy and taunted him with hope.

His thoughts seemed hard to hold onto now. He knew from experience this was the madness that came with being adrift. The mind lost its focus, its self. The only thought that he could seem to catch presently was the persistent question 'when will this end and where?'

He didn't want to fall anymore. He only wanted an end to his pain.

He felt himself shift in space again. His head swam as he suddenly spun. He bit down on his tongue for the hundredth time as he anticipated a new explosion of pain.

The pain came in waves that crashed over his form. It washed any thoughts he'd been having from his mind.

He weakly sucked in short bursts of air in an attempt to keep his stomach from rolling as he was flipped and turned and disoriented.

He must have drifted close to a star in his tumbling because he felt the heat starting to burn his dry skin and leech into his brittle bones.

The buzzing in his ears became unbearably loud.

He was flipped face down on to his stomach and started falling more quickly than usual. He dropped and dropped and then suddenly stopped. The force with which he was stopped felt like he'd been thrown against the Hrimthurs' wall by one of the giants.

'Had he finally hit something and stopped falling? Would the Chitauir find him here?'

he held his breath and bit his tongue, there was a thought on the edge of his mind that was important.

He tried to concentrate through the pain and the heat and the ever present hum in his body and grab hold of the thought. It was just out of reach.

Then there was a noise. Something new. He couldn't hear properly and that made the noise hard to make out. 'Could it be footsteps?'

he sucked in a breath in anticipation, something was coming, he couldn't see it in the darkness but from experience he was sure it wasn't going to be nice.

Sudden he was jolted with something searing on his exposed neck just under his jaw. It burned his skin. His muscles were made to contract and twitch violently. 'What was this?'

Again he was struck with the white hot pain; this time just above the sternum. His sore body involuntarily clenched from his toes to his teeth with each strike.

He could smell his burnt flesh. He wanted to get away but he was still bound. His jerking away from the pain being inflicted upon him caused him to sway.

He was bound, and he was swaying. Something finally clicked his Loki's mind. He wasn't really falling through the void rather he was hanging, in a cage and had been for days presumably. Someone was doing this to him. Someone he knew.

He was hit again this time on the hand and then on his cheek. He did cry out now.

That seemed to only enrage or perhaps entice the person doing the inflicting and the hot bolt coursed through his throat longer this time until the convulsions brought him to the brink of unconsciousness.

The last thing Loki's mind did before the darkness took him was make a connection 'Bolt... lightning... Thor.'

'Was Thor doing this to him?'

Fury held the cattle prod at arm's length and watch Loki squirm above him. He could hear the god scream, he sounded like a wounded animal. Muffled but also raw like he was teary his throat with each noise.

Fury held the prod to the god's pale neck determined to see just what the electricity could do to the frost giant.

Loki went limp as the prod struck again at his thin vulnerable neck. Fury saw the change. The control room called to confirm the scans said Loki was indeed unconscious. Fury held the cattle prod on the god just a little longer just to be sure.

After all he had to be thorough, this was about keeping his agents safe.'

"Stark, tis Thor... Yes I have heard word from Asgard. Father is having the necessary tools prepared now. I believe it should take no more than another week. I will be returning as soon as I have them, to collect my brother...Stark have you any word on how Loki fares under the guard of SHIELD?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Found it!" Tony proclaimed loudly. His voice cut threw the quiet hum of the room like a shot.

Bruce looked up from his own computer screen startled by the other scientist's exclamation. He looked across at Tony's screen but couldn't make anything out anything discernible. They'd both been in the lab all day, subconsciously they were both trying to keep themselves busy and keep their minds off recent events but consciously they'd been working on different projects and Bruce didn't know what Tony was so excited about.

"That's great?" he half congratulated half questioned. "What's 'it'?"

Tony glanced back over his shoulder at Bruce and clarified. "You know how Thor called yesterday, right and said he's gonna be back soon?" Bruce nodded. "Well, he wanted to know how Loki is doing. I know I personally hope they've found I nice dank hole to keep prancer in; but I can't begrudge Romeo for just wanting to know about his brother."

Stark had seen the look on Thor's face when Fury's agents had taken Loki from him. The guy cared for his brother. Stark himself was starting to come to terms with the idea that family sometimes meant loving a person even if you didn't like them.

"So I've been trying to find out the sitch, that's short for situation, for him but we don't know anything because SHIELD's not saying and Fury has been unreachable for a week now." Tony explained, seemingly Bruce thought without stopping for a breath.

Tony put his hands up and expanded the image in the file he was looking at and Bruce was surprised to see it was the image of a tall windowless building and a street address. Bruce noted that the address was about an hour away maybe two hours if there was traffic from where they were. "So this is 'it'? Do you think that's where they're holding Loki?"

"Yeah, I hacked into SHIELD's computers and crosschecked personnel and equipment logs looking for any change in routine. There's been more activity at this SHIELD property in the past week then there has been in the past six months. I do have two other possible locations for our favorite villain's penalty box but this place, this place seems perfect."

"But you don't know for sure."

"No they're really playing this one close to the vest. I searched for video footage, there's usually video footage. This time I couldn't find any, like nothing linked to this location." Tony sighed, it was odd that they wasn't any footage, not even from the parking lot. This was the golden age of the security camera and SHIELD was the proverbial 'Big Bother.' "All I want is some conformation for Thor that his little brother and the babysitter's are getting along so that the god of thunder doesn't get pissed and pelt us with truck sized hail or something."

"So you can't hack into their security camera's or something and take a peek?" Bruce didn't know a lot about hacking but it seemed like if anyone did it was Tony.

"If they've got 'em they're not on any server I've been able to find. Maybe I could find some neighboring cameras or a satellite." Tony tried to think of other ways he could get the information he wanted.

"You know what, screw it, I think I'll just go up and knock on the door and see what's up. This is so not the time for Fury and SHIELD to go all incommunicado."

"That's bold, is it wise?" Bruce pointed out. They had been through a lot recently, still Bruce was just getting to know Tony. He mused that the genius seemed like the kind of guy who might get himself into trouble leaping before he looked. Bruce tried very hard to err on the side of caution.

"Wise shmise, I'm Iron Man and I just helped saved New York what are they going to do?"

"Hum, maybe you should take Steve with you." Bruce suggested earnestly.

"You might be right, the boyscout might be helpful."

The building was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, like an hour away from the city. It was a hugh building surrounded by an empty parking lot five miles off the main road. Tony purposefully parked his expensive car away from the building and the few other cars that were there.

When they pulled up there wasn't a soul in sight. "You really think that Director Fury is here?" Steve looked out the window.

"One way to find out." Tony said seriously.

"Alright but if SHIELD is here and they tell us to leave, I think we should." Steve knew after finding the weapons SHIELD was hiding on the Helicarrier that he shouldn't trust them blindly but that didn't mean he wanted to make a habit of sticking his nose where it didn't belong without at least some intel.

"I'm staying here." Bruce leaned up from the backseat to look out the front windshield at the building.

"You chicken?" Tony ribbed him and Steve gave Tony a disapproving look.

"You talked me into going on this little road trip but I don't have to go into that place if I don't want to." Bruce didn't mind going for a drive and getting out of the city for a while, he really hoped they would get this over and done with and head back.

"This shouldn't take to long. If Fury is here we'll relay Thor's message and be done." Steve laid out the plan so everyone knew it and Tony couldn't argue.

"And see about the rock Lokster." Tony added as he climbed out of the car.

He turned back to Bruce before shutting his door. "I'll leave the car running so you don't get too hot. You can change the radio station but no joy riding young man, I expect you and this car to be here when we get done." Tony chuckled. Bruce rolled his eyes at Tony's sass as he pulled out his iPad and sat back to wait for them.

Tony and Steve walked up to the large windowless building. There was only one door that they could see, it was thick steel and gave no clues as to what was inside the building. Tony reached for the doorknob.

"Tony do you think maybe we should try calling Fury again..." Steve stood back, hesitating. He was all for giving Fury the information from Thor, but he wasn't crazy about walking into a situation they didn't have any intel for. "Did you try contacting Clint?"

"If Tasha didn't know anything then Barton certainly doesn't know. Anyway we're here now, we might as well make sure that this is the place." Tony turned the doorknob and even he was surprised. "Look at that it's not locked."

Tony stepped inside and Steve followed him close behind. Inside it was dark in dramatic contrast with the brightness they'd just left. Tony stopped and Steve had to stop short to avoid running into him. Tony's eyes adjusted and he could see that there was another set of doors in front of them.

These were metal and glass, probably bullet proof and had a double deadbolt lock with a security card reader. The tech was older making Tony think that this building must not have been used in a while.

Tony pulled out his own SHIELD ID/key card. He'd was pretty sure it would work, he'd modified the encryption to give himself, in anticipation that he wouldn't have it, high enough clearance to gain access to the building. He ran the card through the reader and smiled when he heard the locks click open.

It was still dark when they walked through the second set of doors but their eyes were now well adjusted. They stepped into a narrow corridor. There was a hallway with a set of double doors to their left and a door fifteen feet in front of them that led to a set of stairs. Everything was cinder block, steel and grey, and quiet.

"What do you think door number one or door number two?" Tony asked looking back and forth wondering where all the people were.

Steve was apparently wondering the same thing. "Where is everyone?" Usually SHIELD facilities were teaming with guards, agents, and technicians. "Maybe this isn't 'it' and they're at one of the other buildings you located?"

Tony turned back to Steve to defend his educated guess but before he got the chance the door in front of them opened.

Always on alert Steve stood up straight and tensed ready for a confrontation. Stark stayed calm, he turned and put on his most charming smile as a woman in a white lab coat carrying a tablet came into the hallway.

She stopped in her tracks. The heavy door closed behind her with the 'bang' that echoed off the solid walls.

"You can't be here." She said sternly.

Tony held up his ID badge. "We have clearance." Even though he was projecting confidence the woman looked at him skeptically.

"Director Fury didn't say anything about..." The woman glanced every so slightly back the direction she came from.

Tony caught the gesture and leap into action. "So he is here." Tony smirked. He had guested right. "I've got a message to give him."

Tony walked around the woman and through the door and started up the stairs before the woman could get the words out of her mouth to protest.

The sound of the door closing drowned out the woman's feeble "You can't go up there."

Steve stood in the hall with the woman. "He is infuriating isn't he."

Fury sat on the edge of the long desk in the control room and looked out the window at his prisoner contemplating what his next move would be.

The prisoner had been rendered unconscious by the cattle prod yesterday but even in his less than healthy state he'd only stayed unconscious for about ten minutes and they'd found he didn't have Thor's gift for controlling electricity.

'good to know.' Fury thought snidely.

Fury stood from his perch and moved towards the control panel. "Let's kill the fans again." He spoke to the lab coated man at the computer who complied with a nod.

"What did the fans do to you?" a voice that Fury didn't expect came from behind him. Fury moved from where he had been leaning over one of the computers and stood up straight to his full height.

"What are you doing here Stark?" He asked without turning to the man. The door closed behind Stark.

Fury knew he shouldn't be surprised that Stark just let himself in, he was a self-important brat who had a track record of sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

"Just here to leave a message. I tried calling but you didn't pick up. Did your phone die, did you loose your charger?"

The flippant tone of Tony Stark's voice grated on Fury's every nerve.

"I'm working Stark." Fury expertly used his tone to implied that the 'too smart for his own good' genius should hurry up and get out.

"What are you working on? You are holding Loki here aren't you? Do you need any tech? I could help with that." Stark moved a step further into the control room.

Fury turned on his uninvited guest. He watch as a number of different expressions flashed on Stark's face he guessed in reaction to the intensely serious expression on his own the same he'd worn since he'd brought Loki here.

"The message." Fury demanded through clenched teeth.

"Yeah." Stark looked at Fury and then scanned the room, he couldn't see out the the viewing window from his vantage point. "Thor called, he said the stuff from Asgard will be here any day now."

Fury couldn't hide his reaction to the news. He desperately wanted to appear professionally detached but he knew that Stark could see his jaw muscles clench. He turned his back and looked out the window again where he could see Loki paying for what he'd done. "Fine, call us when he's back." Fury spoke dismissively.

Stark didn't leave. "Thor, he wants to know how his brother is."

Fury's hands curled into fists. "The prisoner is contained."

Stark stepped further into the control room. "I don't think that's what Thor wants..." His sentence trailed off when he got his first good look out the window and into the large open 'cage.' "What the?"

"We have the prisoner under control Stark." Fury growled, knowing without looking what had shocked Stark.

"Control is keeping the door locked on a padded cell and having scheduled meals and supervised recreation time. This is something else." Stark tried to take in and process what he was seeing but even seeing it didn't make it clear what he should think of whatever it was they were doing to Loki.

"Stark, the cell we had for the Hulk didn't hold him." Fury spoke. "We had to rethink how we hold him. We've had to do some experimenting."

"What experiments are you doing? What, you've found the guy gets a headache when the blood rushes to his head, well guess what that's true for everyone. This isn't a lab, you can't just do things and call them experiments." A thought in the back of Tony's mind burned to be spoken. "this is... torture."

Fury looked indignant at the accusation. "I'm protecting my planet from a crazed murderous alien Stark. What would you have me do? I made sure he won't escape this time. He won't get a chance to."

Stark felt conflicted. It arguably would take a lot to contain the crazy that was Loki. Still this looked cruel and unusual and that didn't set well with Tony.

Fury could tell that Stark's wasn't sure what to think. He put on his most confident and directorial air. "We are simply keeping his mind and body occupied he hasn't been physically touched."

Tony's eyebrow hitched skeptically. Fury continued. "He's never in one position very long and he's a god a little leaning this way and that is probably about as bothersome to him as some light turbulence on a plane might be to us."

Stark was curious now. He moved closer to the control panel and could see Loki hanging at an angle with his head down strapped to the same bondage backboard he'd left Stark Tower on a week ago. Stark looked at the computer screens and could see scans and graphs and even a full size x-ray of Loki on the wall, his brain started to compute what all the different numbers and charts meant.

"How does it work?" Tony asked looking over the engineer's shoulder.

The engineer looked to Fury for the signal. Fury nodded his head and the engineer swiped at the controls on the screen. The cables Loki was hanging from began to retract and bring him up to a vertical position.

The choice of position was that of the engineer and Fury knew almost instantly that it was a bad idea not making the call himself. The new position gave Stark, even from the distance that they were, a better view of Loki and the state he was in.

Loki was deathly pale, slack and sagging in his bonds, with red blood visible on his face and hands.

Stark's eyes widened and he turned green. Fury cursed the engineer with ever fiber of his being.

"Looks like you didn't have to lay a hand on him." Tony felt lied to.

"Stark." Fury spoke in a low gravelly tone that should have been a warning to the Avenger.

Looking again at the life size x-ray scan of Loki Tony could now see the brakes in bones. "You need to stop this now." Tony was no doctor but between the x-ray and what he could make of what were surely vitals readings on the monitors Loki was most definitely being tortured. "Are you trying to see how much it takes to kill him?"

"Stark, he's a war criminal." Fury argued.

"You're still not suppose to torture him. This is wrong, we're the good guys, we don't torture." Tony and Fury faced one another now. Tony's face had gone from sickly green, to 'saw a ghost' pale, to an determined angry red.

"Don't tell me what to do. I'm dealing with this, with him." Fury was shouting now.

"Doesn't make it right. There are other ways." Tony understood the 'knee jerk reaction' mentality, it made people, even good people, do horrible things.

"He's a murderer." Tony saw as Fury started breaking in front of him and he knew that this was personal for Fury just like defeating Loki had been personal for the Avengers.

That still didn't make it right in Tony's opinion. As it was this might start an inter planetary incident. Tony needed to try and do some damage control before Thor saw what Fury was doing to his brother.

"Fury, Nick stop this now and go to whatever safe house you call home and shower and sleep and eat. Eat a gallon of ice cream. Go and mourn." Tony sighed. "This isn't going to bring Coulson or any of the other victims back. Go home Fury, you may be the super spy but you're human and you have needs, and that may have been a Smith's song but my point stands. Go take care of you and don't let this kind of hate twist you into the kind of monsters you've worked to fight against."

"Or what?" Fury spoke with deadly seriousness.

"Or I'll find a way to stop this." Tony for all his earlier levity spoke now with the authority of a man who had lived through torture, through Hell.

Fury stood very still sizing up Tony as he made a decision. Tony was unnerved but didn't back down. In the end Fury decided to cut his loses and walk away. "That makes him your responsibility."

The engineering team took the director's cue and followed quickly after him.

Tony let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as the door closed and he was left alone.

"What now?" he asked.

He looked around the empty control room, at the body scans and the brainwave scans and quickly determined that this was not his area he pulled out his phone and dialed help.


End file.
